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Roy Clifford Bebout, who had been been previously convicted of rape and kidnapping, allegedly assaulted an underage girl in broad daylight in Evansville, Indiana, and tried to force her into his truck.

An Indiana man allegedly tried to snatch an underage girl off the streets of Evansville in broad daylight Friday afternoon, handcuffing her and briefly holding her at gunpoint before the girl managed to escape, police said.

Roy Clifford Bebout, 46, was arrested Friday evening after the alleged victim was able to break free and alert bystanders nearby to the attack, according to a statement from Evansville police.

At the time of the incident, Bebout was on probation stemming from a 1998 rape and kidnapping conviction for which he had been sentenced to 45 years in prison, according to online Department of Corrections records. It was not immediately clear when he was released from prison.

The altercation began Friday afternoon, when the victim told police a man in a red Dodge pickup truck roared up next to her and hopped out waving a handgun, according to the statement from the Evansville Police Department.

In the ensuing scuffle, Bebout allegedly managed to handcuff the girl, choke her, and force her into the truck, and also tried to force a ball gag over her mouth to shut her up, police said.

As the suspect walked around his truck to get in, the girl — who told cops she pepper sprayed her attacker during the fight — was able to open the door and make a break for it, screaming “He’s trying to kill me,” and got the attention of a nearby bus driver, according to the Evansville Courier-Press.

Cops canvassing the scene of the alleged attack found a cell phone on the ground, and used it to call a contact listed as “mom,” and when the woman confirmed that her son lived with her and drove a red pickup truck, investigators zeroed in on Bebout.

Police caught up with the alleged reprobate late on Friday evening in Princeton, Indiana, a town north of Evansville, and he was booked at the Vanderburgh County Jail early Saturday morning on charges of kidnapping, criminal confinement, strangulation, and battery with a deadly weapon, jail records show.

In an interview with detectives, the girl picked Bebout out of a six-man lineup, and told investigators she was “90 percent sure” that he was the man who had attacked her, the Courier-Press reports.

As of Monday morning, Bebout was being held at the Vanderburgh County Jail without bail, records show. It was not immediately clear if he had secured a defense attorney.

[Photo: Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Department]

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